Funeral home finds ‘suspicious’ wounds on man, GA cops say. Arrest made 5 years later
More than five years after a man was found stabbed to death, a woman has been charged in his killing, according to Georgia authorities.
Carmen Marie Hunt, 50, faces charges of felony murder and aggravated assault in the 2019 stabbing death of Ray Neal, the Gwinnett County Police Department said in a Jan. 23 news release.
A wellness check at his Lawrenceville home led to the discovery of the 61-year-old, and his death was initially ruled to be from natural causes, WSB-TV reported. That’s until police said funeral home staff found “suspicious injuries” on his neck.
Neal’s death was reclassified as a homicide but went unsolved until a recent tip from a family member, police said. The relative told police they believed Hunt, who was already in jail on charges related to a 2022 stabbing, was responsible for killing Neal.
“I knew it more than what was being said, when I walked in and see that amount of blood it’s something else,” Michelle Smalls, Neal’s sister, told WAGA in 2019.
Authorities gave the case a second look, reviewing security video and conducting new interviews, police said. Two crime scene specialists were also called in to examine fingerprints left at the scene.
Hunt was brought in for questioning and later charged in Neal’s killing, based on the new evidence, according to authorities.
Police didn’t say how Hunt and Neal knew each other.
The charges come more than five years after Neal’s sister discovered him dead in a bedroom July 20, 2019, police said. His sister told officers she went to his home after she couldn’t a hold of Neal on the phone, adding that her brother had several medical issues.
“As officers were inside the home, they noticed blood on the bed, on the walls of the bathroom, and upon the shower curtain,” police said at the time. “It was not immediately clear if the blood was related to his medical condition or a crime.”
After Neal’s body was turned over to a funeral parlor, staff noticed that Neal had been stabbed multiple times, according to authorities.
Hunt remained in the Gwinnett County Jail on the new charges, in addition to the 2022 charges, as of Jan. 23, online records show.
Lawrenceville is about a 30-mile drive northeast from downtown Atlanta.